US Gov’t Should Be Punished as War Criminal: Iranian Commander

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri blamed Washington for the emergence of Takfiri terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), saying the US is complicit in the inhumane crimes committed by the groups.

In remarks released on Friday, Brigadier General Jazayeri offered his congratulations over recent victories of the resistance forces and the liberation of last strongholds of Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria, saying the Takfiri militants were mercenaries hired by the US.

“The US and the International Zionism, aiming to damage the bright image of the dear Islam, implemented their sinister plan through forming terrorist and Takfiri groups…,” he noted.

The commander further emphasized that the Washington and Tel Aviv regimes destroyed economies of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen, and shed the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and spared no efforts to portray a dark face of Islam.

Although the US has faced defeat in its proxy war in the region, the US government, as the sponsor of this devastating war, is responsible for all the destruction, killings and damages to the targeted people and countries, Brigadier General Jazayeri said.

“We are waiting for a day when… this Satanic regime would face the most severe punishment as a war criminal,” he added.

In a message to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday morning, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Quds Force Major General Soleimani declared that the Daesh terrorist group’s rule has come to an end with the accomplishment of a mission to liberate Syria’s eastern city of Al-Bukamal, near the Iraqi border.

On November 19, Daesh terrorists were flushed out of their last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.

Daesh militants made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large areas of Syria.

But the timely support by Iran helped Syria and Iraq fight off Daesh. In addition, the formation of military units by volunteers in Iraq, known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and later made the terror group withdraw from the territories it had occupied.